Najib Says " BN Will Not Play Race Card In Ijok By-election!" Can We Trust His Word?

Playing the race card has always been Barisan's main weapon in its considerable arsenal of political dirty tricks. There is no way leopards or the BN can change their spots. Of that there is no doubt. So when I read this 'assurance' by Najib it was a bit of a surprise. They (the BN) normally won't even acknowledge that the race card is being played; deftly, with cold calculated purpose and malice. The details here from NST.

Barisan Nasional will not be drawn into playing the racial card even if Parti Keadilan Rakyat decides to field a Malay candidate in the Ijok by-election. Barisan Nasional deputy chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak said an MIC candidate would represent the coalition in its bid to retain the Malay-majority constituency. "We are sticking to the BN’s principle of co-operation."

Najib, who is deputy prime minister and Pekan MP, said this after distributing aid to victims of recent floods in the district at the Sultan Ahmad Shah hall here yesterday.

Najib was asked whether BN would face an uphill battle if PKR nominated its treasurer and Selangor liaison chief, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, to contest the by-election. Khalid, the former group chief executive of Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad, is a Kuala Selangor man where Ijok is located.

The Election Commission has fixed Thursday as nomination day and April 28 for polling. The by-election is being held following the death of its representative from MIC, Datuk K. Sivalingam, on April 4.

Malays make up 50.6 per cent of the voters, Indians (28.3), Chinese (20.9) and others (0.2).

In the 2004 general election, Sivalingam obtained 5,213 votes, defeating Abdul Rahman Moharam of Keadilan (3,564 votes) and independent candidate Mohamed Shariff Nagoorkani (313 votes).

***** However this time Najib may be speaking the truth, for it is the BN which is on the defensive trying to justify to 50% of the electorate who are Malays why they should vote for an Indian instead of supporting one of their own. This is made more difficult by the greed displayed by Umno Kuala Selangor which, going against the established Umno and BN practice of campaigning unquestioningly for the selected candidate, has been whining and moaning on a daily basis of being denied the chance of 'serving the people'. This promises to be a more interesting by-election than Machap.
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